Shadows
by Violet Goddess
Summary: A one-shot, that takes a sensual, dark look at the relationship between Kaoru and Battousai. Rated for sensual overtones and violence. RR.


This is my first one-shot. I wanted to try something different and put something out there for all those people so paitently waiting for me to update my other works. This was a lot of fun actually and let me explore a darker, more sensual side of a Battousai/ Kaoru relationship.   
  
Also this took a lot of editing so thanks to all of you who read through the rough draft of this and help me make this awesome.   
  
So enjoy everyone and leave some reviews so I know what you think.   
  
Shadows Violet Goddess  
  
Darkness clung to the corners of the dojo, wrapping around the wood in somber silence. Shadowy arms cast by a sun, long hidden behind rain-heavy clouds, reached out as if to devour the lone figure standing motionless in the center of the cavernous room. Her body was lithe and supple in the flowing robes that seemed so much a part of her, that seemed to blend and meld with her body. One knew her movements would be like water, flowing smoothly and effortlessly through the humid air. Callused hands gripped the worn handle with the confidence of long practice. Her muscles tensed in concentration and then she began. Her sword swinging in rhythmic strokes.   
  
The strong, sure strokes of a warrior.  
  
The rain began suddenly and in torrents, beating ceaselessly against the haggard tiles above her. She never wavered in her movements, never noticed the water sliding like oil past stone and wood to pool on the ground into silvery mirrors of gray.  
  
And then she stopped. Her body freezing in mid-motion, her arms extended to as if to strike some invisible enemy.   
  
He had come.  
  
She turned slowly, knowing without looking that he stood close. Her body had become so attuned to him she felt she would know where he stood in a crowd of thousands. He stood before her now, proud and defiant against a doorway shielded by a veil of raindrops. Though his face was hidden in shadow, she knew it bore the ravages of time and grief. Suddenly, though the shadows seemed to slide around his form, his eyes glowed brightly as they captured her own  
  
He had found her.   
  
She had been so sure this time, so careful. She had thought she had hidden herself well, but there he stood, dark and dangerous. He didn't reach out to touch her. Instead, his arms hung lifelessly, though never harmlessly, at his side. She watched as his fingers clenched and released as if fighting themselves. Another battle to add to the others waging within him.  
  
She never saw him move, never even saw the thought of movement flicker across his face. Suddenly he was a bare hair's breadth from her. His breath flowed across her face as he spoke, his lips still wet from the rain, brushed hers.  
  
"Did you think you could escape me? Did you think I would just let you go?"  
  
"I'd hoped but - no." He quirked his head to the side, gold eyes catching the meager light and shining like fire. They always seemed to do that, just as his personality did. It drew the life from the room, pulled it towards him until there was nothing left but Battousai. He was a man to be feared and respected, but the past pains that had molded him into that man were ones Kaoru was loath to explore.  
  
She had left him long ago because of that bitterness and rage that seethed inside him, boiled like oil put to a flame. It was so much a part of him that he could never release it. And yet it would drown her in fire if she let it. And so she had run.   
  
Passion was something she feared. Whether from love or hatred, pleasure or pain, bliss or revenge. It mattered not, it filled her with terror. Passion required one to let go, to give up control. That was the one thing she had been taught from birth to scorn, to fear, and to resist. Battousai burned with passion like no other. It surrounded his every motion, enveloping him like a crimson cloak. The way he approached life reeked with passion. And it would consume her.  
  
Her fingers clenched around her bokken, the will to fight still strong within her.   
  
"I will not return. I cannot." Her voice was low and fervent, pleading with him to understand. Though she knew he would not.  
  
"And I cannot let you stay." She drew her sword up then, her challenge obvious. A small smile might have quirked his lips but it was smoothed away as his body accepted the battle.  
  
She had known it was futile from the beginning. He was Battousai, the Hitokiri. A man feared by warriors and emperors, someone who lurked in the shadows of a bloody era and feared nothing. He stood before her now, his blade pulled slowly from its sheath. The hiss of metal against metal ringing loudly against the tattoo of rain.  
  
The wood bowed grudgingly beneath their weight, creaking in protest as they circled each other warily, each knowing the outcome but unwilling to stop. Pride and possession drove them as nothing else could have.   
  
His attack was lightning fast, as she had known it would be. Their blades met with a crunch as metal fought wood. Though he had reversed his blade to spare her death, the jolt of contact slithered up her arm in a painful searing. But she betrayed nothing, her face remained passive.  
  
"I cannot let you Kaoru."  
  
His words were just as fervent as hers had been but a moment ago but Kaoru stilled her heart to them. Where once they might have melted her soul, she now turned them away. She pulled back, feinted and then attacked. And so on it continued.  
  
It soon became evident that Battousai was using only a meager portion of his skill, that he was holding back. He didn't take the openings she knew he saw in her defense. He didn't try to maim or kill. He merely continued to met her every thrust and jab with defense.  
  
And then it ended.  
  
With one swift movement he broke her bokken; the wood splintering with a sickening crack and falling to her feet in disgrace. His sword swung around her then as she stared at the sad remains of her weapon and she felt his arm pull her close. She watched the floor whirl past as he brought her near and held her tightly for a moment.  
  
And then she was slammed against the once sturdy wall. The smell of rain and sweat swarmed around her as Battousai's body slid against hers, his sword held in mock threat against her throat. The dull blade felt cool against her skin as she gasped in breath. Red bangs slid against her skin as he pushed his face into her neck. Breathing roughly as he held her so. His hair looked like blood in the pale twilight even as she watched his body shudder softly against hers.  
  
"Why?" She felt the words against her skin, the question anguished and demanding all at once.   
  
He knew why.  
  
"I cannot let you go." His voice was low, rasping harshly with guilt and betrayal.   
  
"I know."   
  
"Then WHY?" He did not wish to the "why" of things, he wanted the how. How could she leave him when she knew? How could she just walk away?   
  
And how could he expect her to stay?  
  
"Because my heart beats quickly when you enter a room, because my body burns. I need you always near. And because I crave the feel of your arms around me."  
  
"Need." His voice grated into the rain filled silence like a sword sliding across stone.   
  
"I don't want to need anyone! I can't!"  
  
"And yet I need you." Tortured blue eyes stared into amber ones that gleamed with determination.  
  
"I need you like a talisman against the death that follows me. Against the blood that will not wash from my skin. I cannot breath unless you are near."  
  
"Need."   
  
"Yes, need. And want."  
  
"Want?" Her voice was soft with confusion, her eyes asking him a question she both feared and craved.  
  
  
  
"Need and want. They've become the same with you." He stared at her, the blade still placed snugly against that white throat of hers. "I want you. Everything about you. Your soul, your laugh, your smile."  
  
His breath grated harshly as he once again placed his mouth against her skin, as if savoring the taste of her. Slowly, hesitantly she drew her hand up. It trembled as it slid through red hair pulled back into a simply ponytail. Her fingers clenched and she drew his head back. Her eyes met his and she could only stare. Her gaze skimmed across his features. It was a face she knew better than her own. Features that were burned into her heart. Ones that bore torment both past and present. She knew that she had caused some of the pain lingering in those amber eyes. But even as she watched his face seemed to soften as if merely holding her close held the world at bay.  
  
Her fingers, cold and shaky, slid across his skin. Cupping his cheek as she stared at him wondering what fate had brought them together. She who could not accept passion without fear and he who could not live without the passion that was so much a part of him. And yet could she turn him away again? As she took in those eyes staring at her, beseeching her to understand, to accept. She knew, she could not. As she stared at that mouth that could bring her such bliss. She knew.  
  
There was no turning back.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*  
  
So what did you think? I'm thinking off turning this into a lemon and posting the extended version on my website. Let me know what you think. Review! 


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